The city issued a permit May 30 for the renovation of the Florida Casket Co. building into a museum.
The 104-year-old, three-story brick casket factory building is at 318 Palmetto St., next to the Jacksonville Historical Society’s offices and near VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena to the west. The Historical Society owns the building.
Jacksonville Historical Society is officially The Jacksonville History Center (JHC), which manages four buildings revealing Jacksonville’s diverse history. The JHC owns the Old St. Luke’s Hospital and the Casket Factory, while leasing the Old St. Andrew’s Church and the James E. Merrill House Museum, owned by the City of Jacksonville.
Crabtree Construction Co. is the contractor for the $1.15 million permit.
The Jacksonville City Council approved $2.02 million in March to transform the building into the Jacksonville History Center.
Plans for the center call for a music and general history museum on the first floor, performance and event space on the second floor and archive storage and a research center on the top floor.
The project has been years in the making, with the Council approving $50,000 in upfront funding in 2020. In November 2021, Preston Haskell, founder of the Jacksonville-based global architecture, engineering and construction firm, pledged $400,000 to establish the Haskell Archive in the building. The funding also was provided toward the renovation.
In 2022, the city signed a grant agreement providing another $500,000.
Also in 2022, the Downtown Development Review Board gave final design approval for renovations and the addition of three-story stucco structures to the factory’s east and west sides.
The expansion enlarges the building from 13,500 square feet to 15,200 square feet. It will provide room for restrooms, a catering kitchen and stairwells that will bring the building up to modern building codes and public safety regulations.
The funding legislation, Ordinance 2024-0118, states that the museum’s areas of focus will include the city’s civil rights history, its resurrection after the Great Fire of 1901, its military heritage, and its music and culture.